


The Ballad of the Bards

by Kaoupa



Series: A Pink Planet [8]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Complicated Relationships, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Implied Relationships, Musical References
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2020-10-13 02:43:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20575136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoupa/pseuds/Kaoupa
Summary: Greg Universe (Greg Demayo) and Rose Quartz (Pink Diamond) tend to meet under their assumed names, no matter what world they meet and fall in love in. This one is no different from usual.Of course, just because some things stay the same doesn't mean everything else will.





	1. First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Steven Universe.

Earth was a lively place, compared to the rest of the Gem Empire. It was hardly a secret, especially given how much humans thrived on low levels of change throughout their lives, compared to gems. A trait that, frankly, had spread to the rest of the Pink Court and more than a few of the visitors from the other Courts who had decided to stay or alter their own lives a bit.

Though even on the Empire’s liveliest planet, people wanted quiet every so often. And that was the purpose, mostly, of a "quieter" brand of bar.

Typically, they were found opening late in the day and closing in the mid morning, with a small and loyal clientele. Food tended to be simple, and the menus and taps were small. You ate the same thing, typically. You didn’t come here for high-end and popular foods. These places were all “niche”.

They usually provided their own entertainment, though. Musicians, comedians, or jugglers and "circus" acts every so often. More than a few old movies were played often there, and they were known as the place that some entertainers had gotten their legs on the ground.

And it was through this set of circumstances that Greg Universe met the woman that he would spend the rest of his life with.

  
  


“How wonderful life is, while you’re in the world…” Trailing off, Greg grinned as a polite (and mostly non-automatic) round of applause rose up from the bar’s patrons. “Thank you, thank you! I’ll be here all night. And if anyone has any requests and the bar has them recorded, I will be happy to take them!”

As the door opened, Greg turned to it. “Well, there’s our next guest. Sir or ma’am, would you happen to have any requests?”

As the door finished opening, Greg forgot for a second what he had said as a beautiful woman walked through.

She was big, to say the least - almost seven feet tall. Her hair was pretty too - long, curly, and pink.

And she was looking rather confused as everyone in the bar turned to look at her.

“Hey there, madame…” Greg frowned as he looked carefully and noticed something he hadn’t before.

She was a gem. Well, that was odd.

But so far, she was not bad as gems went.

“Miss Gem! Since you just came in, and everyone here has already asked at least once, would you like to pick our next song?”

The gem looked surprised, then smiled. “I’m a Rose Quartz, firstly! So please call me that. And… actually, I haven’t heard you sing yet.”

“Okay! Anyone have a problem if I sung my last song again for the lovely Rose Quartz who decided to come along?”

“Oh, you flatterer!” Rose chuckled as she walked to the counter. “Could I get… whatever your soup is for today?”

“That would be peanut curry soup, madame Quartz.”

“I’ll take some! Please!” 

  
  


As Greg finished the song a second time, nobody clapped like they had the first time.

Well, at first. He supposed that most of them had already heard it - wait, there was someone!

“And thank you, Rose Quartz! It’s always good to see that someone appreciates your work!” He called into the empty room, getting a few awkward looks back.

“I know!” She replied, sipping down the soup she’d been given, and beaming back (when had she moved that close to the stage?)

“Anyways, since you didn’t ask for something last time, would you like to pick the next song?” 

Rose looked as though she was having trouble deciding when Greg finished. “Hmm...” There were so many songs she liked, and so many of them might or might not be good with his voice. What should she ask for?

“Well, I’m not sure! There’s just… so many choices, Mr...”

Greg’s face was very surprised as the pretty gem looked at him, waiting for something. This - this might have been one of the first times that a gem asked for his name, besides his music teacher! 

“Greg. I’m Greg Universe, Rose Quartz. And if you can’t pick… let’s let the jukebox decide!” He reached out and tapped the music machine next to him, that had been producing the multiple instruments to go with his song that he had needed besides his guitar. Another night as a musician, meeting a nice woman… today was going well!

Then, the song was decided.

“Well, looks like I’m going to be Under Pressure!” Greg announced loudly. “But the thing is, that’s a two person song. So would anyone in the audience care to help me tonight?”

A hand went up the second that he was done speaking.

He wasn’t too surprised to see who it belonged to, at least as much as he should have been.

“All right, Rose Quartz! Let’s bring the house down!” He grinned as the colossal woman jumped up onto the stage. “I can handle the guitar part - do you have any instruments you like?”

“Let me think…”

  
  


One song turned into another, and another, and soon one had become fourteen. It had been the longest Greg had ever had a co-singer before, in his entire career as a musician. And this Rose Quartz had established herself as possibly the best of the many people he’d sung duos with.

“That was really fun!” Rose said, finally standing up from the piano that she had pulled out of the back of the bar, looking very relaxed. She had done a very good job on the first few songs that he’d picked first (and then all of the songs that she’d picked, after asking if she could).

“Jobs should be like that, if you can find the right one.” He grinned. “I mean, I bet bodyguarding is kind of boring most of the time, right? No offense.”

Rose looked amused. “Most of the time, my job is indeed _ very _boring.”

Greg felt, at that moment, something pushing him forward a little. Something telling him to ask. “Well, if it’s boring, do you think you could come back here again in the future? I mean, I know you have gem stuff to do. And I know schedules for gem stuff aren’t as flexible as they are for human stuff, but it seems like you had a lot of fun.”

Rose Quartz was surprised. But it wasn’t an unpleasant surprise. “I’ll see!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs here are "Under Pressure" by Queen and "Your Song" by Elton John.


	2. Heading Homeward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose Quartz goes back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: Blue Lace Agate has replaced Crazy Lace Agate, since I discovered the latter was a permafusion (Blue Lace Agate is a normal Agate and also a Crystal Gem).

Rose Quartz walked down the streets of Empire City (not a creative name, but it had been the only thing that the founders of the place could agree on) in a wonderful mood. While finding a nice and quiet place to eat was always fun, getting to go onstage was so much better! Singing was always so much fun, especially if it was with someone else.

She wasn’t sure if the manager there would be interested in a Quartz singer helping his human singer, though - entertainment like that tended to be a drain on the credits that a lot of business owners saw as unnecessary. And she was paid plenty already, so she could probably get away with “volunteering”. 

Mention Pink Diamond as a reference and she would have her pick of times and places to sing with… Greg! Yes, that was it. Greg Universe - an odd name, that. Well, he was nice. It’d be nice to sing with him again. Singing always made her feel better. Certainly better than doing her job did. Oh, there was a bus stop!

Now where was the central Warp Pad hub for the city again...

  
  
  


As the Warp Pad’s light burned into the ground, bringing her to her destination, Rose Quartz smiled as she looked out at the Ice Palace (not the most imaginative name, again - neither humans or gems were always the best at this sort of thing).

A quiet voice interrupted her musing. “Greetings, my… Quartz.”

Rose blinked, then smiled as she started paying attention. There was an Agate standing in front of her, and she recognized her. “Blue Lace!”

Blue Lace Agate laughed. "Yesiroo!” She shrugged. “Something go wrong recently? Politics getting you down?”

Rose moaned in agony at the memory of the many court cases she’d gone through, the arguments between her Beryls and Garnets and the ones from other Courts, the cases she’d looked through from some of her Serpentines who had presided over human-gem cases, laws to approve or disapprove, all the paperwork needed for the new planet her Court would be expanding to…

“Don’t get me started. Thank the stars for Pearl…”

“She’s doing all your work again?” Blue Lace frowned.

“I just asked her if she wanted to! She could have taken a break! She likes helping me!” Rose looked offended as she defended herself.

Blue Lace Agate just sighed. “Well, we all know she’s smart enough to do it. And I suppose it’s better than just having her sit up there alone all day…”

  
  


Before either of the two “Quartzes” knew it, they had come up on one of the more remote Warp Pads in the Arctic Palace - one specifically off the main pathways, and that didn’t have any recordings that went to the main records of Earth.

“Well, I’d better go.”

“Yeah, you go do that. I’ll send someone if anything big happens. The Sapphires are all doing fine… not really any less snotty on average than before.”

Rose Quartz just walked onto the pad, gave the Agate a nod, and beamed away.

After a second, being sure she was gone, Blue Lace Agate just sighed and walked away. “Yeah, that’s our boss…”

  
  
  


As she flew up the warp stream, Rose Quartz sighed. Well, she couldn’t exactly show up to the Moon Base like this. Sadly.

And, mid-warp, she started to change. Her shape started “flowing” upwards, her form became incorporeal light, and her gem started rotating.

And ten seconds later, Pink Diamond appeared in the Warp Pad Hub of the Moon Palace.

“My Diamond!” The two Rose Quartzes there - one of which had been apparently reading a book - hastily saluted, forming the traditional diamond symbol.

“At ease.” She sighed, walking forwards, already feeling her spirit droop a little.

“Good luck!” One of them called after her.

  
  


As she walked through the base, singing emerged through one of the doors she passed by - a duet, it seemed. Like the one she’d had with Greg.

She sighed, the fond memories already making her sad at how they were no longer happening.

A familiar voice broke into her thoughts - a familiar one. “Oh, our Diamond’s back! Hi Pink!”

“HI!”

Pink Diamond was, for a second, almost bowled over by the sheer volume of yells coming her way, and smiled back at all the gems inside.

It wasn’t perfect, as far as families went. For the “Pink” gems, like Spinel, the Amethysts, Carnelians, Jaspers, the Rose Quartzes… well, nobody was sure if she could be considered their mother or some form of older sister. 

“You want to do karaoke?!” Spinel yelled from inside, holding up a very old-fashioned microphone (the design was several thousand years old, but effective enough nobody had ever really bothered to come up with a serious replacement). Cheers came from around the room, from many of the Quartzes and other gems who had been assigned to the Moon Palace.

She grinned sadly before she walked off. “Sorry, everyone. Pearl’s been up long enough, I can’t keep her waiting!”

“But… you’re better than Pearl at karaoke!” Came a weak call after her.

  
  
  


Typing a code into the panel to her control room, Pink Diamond sighed. Both at what she was going to be doing soon, and the person inside.

“Oh, my Diamond! How was… you know?” Pearl asked cheerfully from inside, typing into the database, sending out a series of orders, which had been sent out often enough under Pink Diamond’s name and authorization over the last six thousand years that nobody would really question the minor differences.

As Pink Diamond entered though, she was already getting out of the seat, and leaving the screen that had been opened by her hanging up there. 

“Fine, my Pearl. I got to sing a duet! Oh, and I found a new bar that does karaoke.” 

“You… sang? What bar was this at?” Pearl frowned, and was already pulling up a new screen.

“Pearl, you don’t need to be this careful.” Pink Diamond frowned - but Pearl had already started backtracking through a large number of cameras where Rose was on the screen. 

Pearl sighed. “Your voice is distinct. If the other Diamonds find out about your little trips to Earth, you know that they are not-”

“Not going to take it well, yes! But - everyone is great, but it’s BORING up here!” Pink Diamond scowled darkly. “It’s so fracking DULL! We barely ever get new gems coming up here who aren’t kissups who want a promotion, the laws won’t let me bring humans or geminals here to stay without a super-good reason - I can’t even get time to sleep!”

Pearl didn’t reply about how she didn’t need to sleep - she knew Pink Diamond, after thousands of years together with her. This wasn’t so much a reasonable thought process as it was a rant about how her life was unfair in spite of the power she had.

“-and the Quartzes can all get time off to sleep if they want, and a lot of them just use it to do things or play games if they aren’t doing that already on their shifts because  _ nothing happens up here _ ! And Spinel’s job is  _ fun,  _ why can’t I have something fun to do?!”

Pearl sighed as she carefully typed out of Pink Diamond’s sight, letting her partner build up her pace - she might as well get this off her shoulders. It wasn’t directed at her - it was more directed at the world in general (or at least the other Diamonds).

She had plenty of her own feelings there, frankly. But she wasn’t ever going to say them out loud.

  
  
  


“...And you aren’t even paying attention, are you?!”

Pearl blinked, then looked up. “You were ranting again.”

Pink Diamond looked, that second, as though she had suddenly hit a girder on her train of thought. “...I was, wasn’t I?”

“Yes.” Pearl didn’t look even remotely surprised as she confirmed Pink Diamond’s suspicions.

Pink Diamond looked regretful. “I’m sorry about that.”

“I know how it is. You needed to do it - it helps, sometimes.” Pearl didn’t look too concerned by Pink Diamond’s rant/tantrum. “Anyways, you should get back to work - a few suspicious court cases have come up. A lot of them involving immigrated gems in either the Serpentine judges themselves, or the juries and accusers who were lower-caste gems or humans. They were flagged by some Obsidians in the Inner Court.”

“I’ll get to it.” Pink Diamond frowned, already wondering which of the judges had likely been behind this sort of thing. “Any serious offenses?”

“Nothing fatal or permanent took place affecting the humans. But… well, you know how common these sort of cases are, and how many can’t be proved either way.” Pearl wasn’t look happy as she spoke.

Pink Diamond looked just as unhappy as Pearl did. And frankly, she was about the same level of unhappy.

It was, for a lot of people who would do this sort of thing, a very small series of short leaps from “humans” to “hybrids” to “lesser-caste gems” to “anybody” in terms of what they could get away with.

“Do you have anything you need me to do?” Pearl spoke as she pulling up the files for the court cases that had been mentioned earlier. Pink Diamond perked up.

“Oh! I have a… volunteer form, I need you to write out.”

Pearl sighed. “My Diamond, you remember how much your schedule suffered the last time you tried to do a volunteer job, right?”

There was a visible shudder running across the larger gem’s body. “Yes, I do. But it wasn’t going to be a… serious job. I want to go back to that bar again, actually!”

“Again? Why?” Pearl pulled up the files again, immediately frowning as she remembered something that had bothered her.

The man that her partner had been singing next to for more than an hour (even if his voice and Pink’s made a rather nice duet).

“No Pearl, I’m not interested in him like that. I just want to sing again.” Pink Diamond could already see the familiar jealousy in Pearl’s eyes - she wasn’t going to torment her partner like that again without meaning to.

“All right, then. It’s been a while since I wrote one of these…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not sure how well I handled the relationship here between Pearl and Rose/Pink, but I think it's clear that things are, like in canon - complicated. 
> 
> Better communication (thanks to many sessions with an Opal each separately and together) between them has made things more comfortable, but some things are more or less ingrained for both of them - especially since they still have to loosely hold to Homeworld's caste system here.
> 
> And yeah, that was the Spinel we know! She's mostly here as a cameo at the moment, and she's doing just fine on Earth in the Pink Court. Pink Diamond went back and got her a long time ago... how long I am not sure, but probably during the timeframe of the Rebellion in canon SU as transplanted here (AKA, Spinel was rescued before she spent the first millennium on the old garden planet). And yeah, she has spent plenty of time with an Opal over the centuries.
> 
> Course, that doesn't mean that Pink Diamond and Spinel are BFFs. Things between them are... well, I can't tell you yet.


	3. If You Can Hear This...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose comes back to sing again (and unknowingly freaks out somebody).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly meant as an interim, to be honest. Rose comes back to the bar and says hi to Greg again.

It was still a fairly quiet place, as far as bars went. Which was, as said before, what a lot of the patrons went there for. A place to just not stand out.

Rose Quartz was partly going there this time because of that, not just because she decided to go there semi-randomly.

And also because she had something she wanted to do. Well, all of this was something she wanted to do, that was important.

“Madame Rose Quartz? Hey everyone, look who’s back!”

Gre… Greg! Yes that was his name. Greg’s voice cut through the room a little, causing her to smile. “Hi, Greg! I’ll be there in a second… where’s the manager?”

A confused-looking woman stepped forwards. “He's in the back. What exactly is it that you want?”

“I have an application - I was wondering if I could start working with Greg over there officially, every so often?” Rose pulled out her “resume” as it was commonly called, and politely handed it over to the bartender. “I was looking for a place to sing every so often, if you’d be willing to accept me as a coworker.”

“I’m not the owner, but I’ll take a look.” The youngish woman frowned as she turned over the first page, walking behind the bar towards the manager’s office.

The resume had been put together by someone who was clearly an expert, but… the owner probably wouldn’t be too interested in hiring another musician. And she wasn’t a bad singer, but Rose Quartz didn’t have any other experience listed with instruments.

Then, something caught her eye, and she went pale.

“Er, the manager is the one who has final say on this, but I think for now we can probably guarantee that you’re hired - get on up there, ma’am!” She yelped, before running into the back areas.

Blinking, Rose nevertheless walked up to the stage. 

“So… you got any requests in mind, then?” Greg grinned at her, already holding out a second microphone for her.

“Mmmm… one?” She had already gotten one particular song in mind to play.

“Your pick then, madame!” He moved aside a little, and gestured to the music machine.

She started typing within a second, and five seconds after she’d finished, the next song started.

“I was justified, when I was five…”

  
"Well, I guess we're going to be hiring a gem, now."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"No. But I'm only going to get a ton of negative media attention here by refusing to hire a gem who's apparently got Pink Diamond's personal approval, if she decides to protest. Just... treat her like you treat Greg."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That song at the end is another Elton John song. Points if you recognize it.


	4. Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, the little things are what herald the big things.

It was only a few hours till Greg’s shift ended - Rose had showed up when he was mostly finished (and the bar was mostly empty, that late at night).

Rose stuck around with him for the entire time, and their voices blended together better and better by the hour.

And by the time it was over, Greg felt like he was walking on air again. 

“What a fun night!” Rose was looking rather relaxed, as she walked outside with him (the bartender, night manager, and one of the other workers didn’t want the musicians to stick around after closing time). 

“I know! Isn’t music great?” Greg almost always felt better after a shift at the bar singing - some people he knew didn’t really like their jobs. He wasn’t one of them.

“You coming back tomorrow, Madame Quartz?” Greg had to admit, even if he loved his job, he’d rapidly gotten happy with the idea of a co-singer.

“Well… probably not. I was only going to ever be able to work here some of the time.” Rose Quartz shrugged, looking a little sad due to her admission. “The Moon Base… what I do up there takes up a lot of time. And please, just call me Rose!”

“Okay! You’re here to relax, then?” Greg looked as though he’d just figured something out.

Rose looked surprised, before she shrugged. “Well, yes. It’s not exactly a fun job that I’ve got.”

Greg didn’t look too surprised by Rose’s admission. “Well… You can pick the songs next time!”

Rose perked up instantly. “Okay! Oh! We could play that “Comet” song again!”

“Maybe. Bye, Rose! See you tomorrow!” Greg was already walking off.

Rose waved after him. “Bye, Greg!” 

  
  
  


One night later...

“I’m just a comet...” Greg finished singing, already hearing the last keys that Rose was hitting on the piano she’d hauled out again.

“You really came up with that song yourself?” Rose asked as she hit the last note, still feeling as though her spirits had lifted up since she came here, once again.

“Yeah! Gotta practice doing that, I haven’t really found any good songwriters yet.” Greg grinned. “I’m still working my way up there, but… I’m going to be a star one day!”

“...That was a metaphor, right?” Rose looked sort of embarrassed. “I mean, you don’t want to be a literal star.”

“Yeah, I guess it is a metaphor...” Greg grinned. “Well, we should get back to singing!”

“Right! Everyone, here’s another number - and hopefully, we’ll get some of it soon!” Greg had already punched in the next song to the machine.

“Sun is shining in the sky…”

Later (again)

“Thanks for doing this, Rose. It’s always nice to have someone helping me with the singing.” Greg and Rose had gone over to the bar after they’d finished singing (the bar’s owner had called in a comedian). 

“As I said, it’s always a pleasure to be able to sing with someone.” Rose looked lighter again, before sighing. “I might not be able to come back here for a while, though. I’ve got a bunch of things to do in the next week or two.” She sighed, and pondered the “drink” in front of her that the bartender had brought her. Non-hybrid gems couldn’t get drunk, it had been proven conclusively… but that didn’t mean they couldn’t like the taste of some drinks.

“Well… maybe we can hang out some time after that?” Greg asked. Rose gave him a surprised look. “Not a date, or anything! I mean, you’re pretty, but you’re… way out of my league, I think. You know how a lot of gems not from here react to relationships like that anyways…”

Rose chuckled darkly. “I hope that isn’t you trying to drive me away.”

“Nope! I don’t really… I don’t think I’m searching for romance yet.” Greg sighed. “I’m gonna try and be a rock star first!”

“Why do you want to be a rock star, Greg?” Rose asked. “It… you don’t seem like the sort of person to be doing it for the fame alone. Why are you trying to become one?”

“It’s… well, I think it’s partly for the fame! But, well… I wanted it first when I was younger, I guess. And my parents always told me I couldn’t be one, that I had to be a worker or something like that like they were."

A dark look took over his face for a second. "...So! I decided that I wanted to be one even more, when I left my parents and went here to be a musician!”

Rose chuckled. It was roughly as dark as Greg's look had been.

Greg swore it almost sounded familiar, even though he’d never heard her do it before. “I mean, you don’t have parents, technically. But well, I guess that the other Rose Quartzes… they are your friends, right?”

“They are my friends. And the Rose Quartzes have always have been nice to me.” Rose smiled.

There was quiet between them, for a second, while they both sipped away their drinks.

“Well… you got room for one more there?”

Rose smiled, a little. “I do.”

“Thanks, Rose.” Greg smiled at her, before patting her carefully on the back. When she didn’t react, he did it a little more. “I can give you my number, if you want. It’s… nice to have a friend.”

“It always is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song is from Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (at least, that's where I heard it).


	5. Spread

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pink Diamond tells her friends about her new friend. They're fairly receptive.

“Pearl, could you check if I have any open spots in my schedule tomorrow night? It doesn’t have to be too long. Just… ten minutes or so.”

Not even blinking, Pearl started typing into her work screen, already scanning. “Most of the evening is just scheduled with a normal workload for you - I see no scheduled meetings or discussions, but there’s enough work currently arranged that I should probably be helping, if you think we could go unnoticed.”

“That would be lovely Pearl, thank you…” Pink Diamond absently mused, as she tapped something on her screen. And filled the air with music.

Pearl would later recognize, after the two of them had spent most of the day plowing through all the forms and higher-level construction projects and colony plans they’d been working on, that the singer was the man Pink Diamond had been spending a few hours the last few days singing with.

His music was catchier than she’d like to admit.

  
  
  


“Hey Pearl!” came an Amethyst’s voice from behind her, as she walked back from the “vacation” Warp Pad of the Palace.

“Yes, what is it?” She asked as she turned around, already noticing that it was the “shorty” of the Inner Court - one Amethyst 8XM. Who tended to be assigned to patrol in the less-traveled sections of said Palace where ambassadors from the other Courts didn’t go due to her “borderline off-color” status.

(The “off color” designation had been relaxed to a degree ever since Pink Diamond had made humanity part of their Court. And since Yellow Diamond had started trying to model more gems who could use technology instead of needing powers to do their jobs).

“Where’s the boss going? She’s been leaving a lot lately.” Amethyst caught up to Pearl quickly as the “servant” stopped.

“She’s been going to Earth again, recently. Apparently she’s found another hobby she wants to try out.” Pearl was long used to her Diamond’s many different changing interests, and so were the rest of the Inner Court. “She’s been singing karaoke at a bar recently, it appears.”

“Singing? Isn’t that, like… well, a risk for voice-comparison stuff?” Amethyst wasn’t the most technologically adept gem, but she had remembered people talking about this sort of thing before.

Pearl waved a hand dismissively as she kept walking. “I already took care of it. The audio footage has already been altered for her visits - and I checked to make sure that nobody took any videos of her and Greg.”

“Greg? Who’s Greg?”

Pearl sighed. “The bar’s original musician, and now her co-singer.”

The rest of their conversation had spread around the Moon Palace within two days.

  
  
  


“He’s… not bad.” One of the Quartzes (a Carnelian, specifically) admitted, tapping her fingers in tune with the beat of Greg Universe’s singing.

“He’s not the best ever, though. That Scarabs group was way better...” 

“Hey, one person bands are kind of handicapped when you’ve gotta go up against a group, Sunny!”

“So… do you think he and the boss are gonna go out?”

“Pfft. No way, Skinny! You’ve been reading too many of those romance novels.”

“Just because you don’t do that sort of thing doesn’t mean people can’t fall in love!”

The squabble among the Quartzes did eventually reach the level where punches were thrown, and more than a few of them went off to the Palace’s arena to blow off steam afterwards.

All of them took this in stride, though. It was just how they showed affection.

  
  
  


“So… in two days, then?” Greg asked, looking hopeful.

Rose gave him a beaming smile. “Two days, after work. I’ll be there. I promise.”

“See you there, then.” Greg gave the rose gem a nod, and turned off his communicator.

Up in her Palace, Rose Quartz gave a nod to someone who wasn't there.


End file.
